THE PRAIRIE OWL PALOUSE AUDUBON SOCIETY Volume 47, Issue 1, Aug-Sept 2018

The mission of the Palouse Audubon Society is to promote education, conservation, and the restoration of natural ecosystems--focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats--for the benefit

of humanity and the Earth's biological diversity

PROGRAMS Wednesday, September 19- The Palouse Audubon Society will team up with the Moscow Food Co-Op’s “Food For Thought” free film series for our first meeting of the year! We will have a table of information, along with membership forms and a drawing for a give-away. “Albatross” will be showing at Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, Moscow, ID beginning at 6:30pm. “The journey of ALBATROSS began in 2008 as a collaboration with my friend, activist/photographer Manuel Maqueda. Studying the newly-emerging issue of ocean plastic pollution, we learned of a stunning environmental tragedy taking place on a tiny atoll in the center of the vast North Pacific Ocean. We immediately began planning an expedition there, and on our first trip to Midway Island in September of 2009, we and our team photographed and filmed thousands of young albatrosses that lay dead on the ground, their stomachs filled with plastic. The experience was devastating, not only for what it meant for the suffering of the birds, but also for what it reflected back to us about the destructive power of our culture of mass consumption, and humanity's damaged relationship with the living world.” Chris Jordan, Director, Writer, and Editor.

Save the dates for upcoming programs with the Palouse Audubon Society: Wednesday, October 17-TBD Wednesday, November 14-TBD Wednesday, January 16-TBD Wednesday, February 20-TBD Wednesday, March 20-TBD Wednesday, April 17-TBD Wednesday, May 15-TBD SAVE THE DATE for the Moscow-Pullman Christmas Bird Count- Saturday, December 15, 2018 More information to follow in the next issue of The Prairie Owl.

Ron Force

FROM THE PREZ

You may be wondering about this year’s photo contest. We changed the rules to require that entrants be a member of Palouse Audubon. To our dismay we had only one qualified entrant, so with that person’s permission, we canceled the contest. Our contest chair, Mike Costa, had invested a lot of effort into the contest, and we thank him for his excellent work. Does this mean that our members are not interested in photography? Or did they think their pictures weren’t contest worthy? We wonder. We wonder about a number of things, such as the content of our programs, and their timing. Why aren’t people showing up for field trips? Do our members support the new direction for National Audubon? Are there local conservation projects to which we should be devoting our time? How can we get more volunteers interested in our projects? To that end, the board has been discussing a membership poll to use in setting the future course for Palouse Audubon. We hope you’ll be willing to participate when asked, so we won’t have to wonder.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Ron Force, 208-874-3207 ronforce@gmail.com Vice President: Marie Dymkoski, 509-595-1650 marie-dymkoski@msn.com Secretary: Charlotte Omoto, 253-905-7267 omoto@pullman.com Treasurer: Peter Meserve, 208-874-8113 p_meserve@yahoo.com Membership Committee: Diane Weber, 509-334-3817 catbirdz@roadrunner.com Newsletter Editor: Marie Dymkoski Program, Outreach Committee: Diane Weber Conservation Committee: Mike Costa, 509-332-1793 majcosta@live.com Field Trips: RJ Baltierra, 509-332-9043 wolfbaltierra@gmail.com Members at Large: David Pierce-Garnett, 208-310-2766 davidpiercegarnett@gmail.com

FIELD TRIPS We are looking for a Field Trip Leader! Sometimes getting outside just takes someone to say “hey, let’s go!” We would like to find someone who is willing to schedule a few evening or weekend trips that we can promote on Facebook and in our newsletter. You do not need to be an ornithologist or ‘professional’ birder, but someone who is willing to lead a group of birders on local trips. Please contact Marie Dymkoski if you’re interested in scheduling fall dates!

Joint Field Trip with the CDA & Palouse Audubon Society

April 28th– 29th, 2018

The weather outlook was not promising that late April day as we set out for our joint field trip with the Palouse Audubon Society, and as we drove west to Sprague, we were deluged by a major downpour. Nevertheless, a hardy group of nearly twenty people continued on, and in Sprague we were joined by a somewhat smaller group from the Palouse Audubon Society. They were led by Marie Dymkoski and RJ Baltierra. My co-leader for the trip was Janet Callen. It was very cold and windy in the Sprague area where we spent our first hour or so, but the birding was remarkable, and the weather gradually improved as the day went on.

Each stop on our planned itinerary yielded avian delights. For example, in the Sprague area we saw numerous waterfowl, a tree filled with Double-crested Cormorants and were dazzled by the whimsical flight of Black-necked Stilts. As we visited Rock Lake, Steptoe Butte and Kamiak Butte our list kept growing. There were Wilson’s Phalaropes, Caspian Terns, Least Sandpipers, Belted Kingfisher, Says Phoebe, Swallows galore,

Golden-Crowned and Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Western Meadowlarks, Hawks of various species, and so much more. We ended our first day having a great dinner in Palouse and a quick walk through their city park looking for more birds. From there it was on to our lodging in Pullman or at Hell’s Gate State Park in Lewiston. We were much indebted to our hosts Marie and RJ for their excellent help in finding birds.

The next day the weather had cleared and we began our birding at Hell’s Gate State Park. Driving there we were treated to the graceful sight of a large flock of White Pelicans flying in circles on the far side of the river. Walking through the park we witnessed, among other things, Swainson’s Hawks in their nest, saw a fight between two male Chinese Pheasants, had an up close view of a Western -screech Owl in a nest box, and saw numerous Lesser Goldfinches.

Moving on to Mann Lake we saw various species of Swallows, Brown-headed Cowbirds, White Crowned Sparrows, Brewer’s Blackbirds and American Goldfinches. Our final stop at Spaulding State Park yielded our first Great blue Heron and a Merlin. Thinking back over the trip as we drove home we realized anew what a beautiful and diverse landscape we live in, and how full of amazing birds it is. Our trip total was 87 species seen and seven more identified by sound. We also were reminded that you shouldn’t be a fair weather birder. Had we decided to turn around we would have all missed a great birding adventure, and I would have one less life bird. George Sayler, Field Trip Coordinator Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Audubon Society

April 2018 Field trip with Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society. photo credit: Marie Dymkoski Winter Robin photo credit: Jackon Rudkin

WHO IS SWAINSON? I have wondered about the biologists associated with various common bird names. For example, Swainson’s Hawk, especially since I finally saw one for sure recently. His name is also associated with Swainson’s Thrush and Swainson’s Warbler. All three of these species were named after William Swainson by Charles Bonaparte, Thomas Nuttal and John James Audubon, respectively. Thus representing the stature he held among ornithologists of the time. William Swainson was a British naturalist with family ties to a number of famous naturalists. As many naturalist of the period (1789-1855) he travelled far and wide; Sicily, Malta, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. As with John James Audubon, he was well known for his illustrations of birds, insects and flora. As naturalists of those days, he studied all of natural history. For example, he returned from a decade long trip to Brazil with collection of tens of thousand of insects, over a thousand plants and over 700 bird skins. The Swainson’s antcatcher, Swainson’s flycatcher and Swainson’s fire-eye of Brazil were described by him. Although there are a number of other birds named after Swainson, most are in north Africa, which he did not visit. Charlotte Omoto, Treasurer

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

The Board members of Palouse Audubon Society thank you for your past support of the chapter and encourage you to renew this support for 2018-19. Membership in PAS is renewable in September: your membership supports the programs and activities of the chapter, including publication and distribution of the newsletter The Prairie Owl. Please watch your mailbox for the annual membership renewal letter. If you do not receive a letter, you may be one of a handful of chapter members who has already renewed through September 2019. On a paper copy of The Prairie Owl, your PAS membership expiration date is printed on the label. If you receive an electronic copy of The Prairie Owl and have questions about your membership status, please contact me at catbirdz@roadrunner.com or 509-334-3817. We are exploring a variety of interesting and educational monthly programs for 2018-19 and hope to see you at one of them. If you have suggestions for program topics or speakers, don’t hesitate to share those with me, as well. Diane Weber Membership Chair

GRADUATE RESEARCH GRANTS, 2018

Each year the Palouse Audubon Society awards a $500 grant for graduate research to a student at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. This year’s award for WSU goes to Nicole Krauss. She is studying the effects of two major environmental pressures, predation and food availability on female reproductive decisions in Black-throated Blue Warblers. To simulate predation, she plays the calls of nest

predators on their breeding territories and then samples clutch size, and egg mass to see if predation threat reduced maternal investment as compared to a control group. For food availability, she measured caterpillar abundance to see if affected the above reproductive investment. At the time of our May meeting, she was already in the field. The University of Idaho award was won by Carl Lundblad for his study on how climate change is likely to affect Burrowing Owls. They are studying five different nesting sites ranging from southern California to northeast Oregon and how burrow temperature affects egg laying, incubation behavior, hatching patterns, and hatching success. Congratulations to this year’s grantees. Ron Force President

WINGS OVER WILLAPA September 28-30, 2018, Wings Over Willapa Festival! Celebrating Willapa National Wildlife Refuge with a weekend full of classes, workshops, guided tours and more. Whether you’re an experienced birder or just getting acquainted with the great outdoors, nature lovers of all ages are sure to find plenty to do.

MAY 2018 KOPPEL FARM SPRING FAIR

A demonstration booth for Palouse Audubon Society was once again presented by Charlotte Omoto and Mike Costa at the Koppel Spring Fair this past May. The main theme was focused on building a backyard ecosystem to provide water, food, shelter and nesting areas for the local wildlife. The booth caught the attention of many passers-by, including families. It was a somewhat windy day and the crew had to keep busy holding down the displays. In addition to numerous posters, articles, flyers, demos on feed and feeder types, there was a large 3-section display board that brought home the message of focusing on an ecosystem in the yard to entice and accommodate the wildlife.

A highlight of the event was the BIRD SONG ID CHALLENGE conducted by Charlotte using her iphone and bluetooth speaker. Guess the bird song and win a prize! The contest was a big hit for all. Even those who could not guess the bird song were given consolation prizes consisting of sample packets of bird seed. This was a great activity as it involved interactive participation and engaged booth visitors

with bird call identification and all the additional knowledge that ensues in the discussion. Prizes awarded included a hummingbird feeder, wildflower seed packets, a mini bird house kit, bird seed, reading materials, and other items. Sample packets of bird seed were also given away to anyone who attended the booth.

Charlotte also provided excellent information and poster presentations about the importance of bees and the use of native plants for landscaping to bring nature home to provide habitat for the birds and other wildlife. Feedback from booth attendees was very positive for the event. We plan to expand the presentation for next year with more interactive activities.

MEMBERSHIP Palouse Audubon Society (PAS) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 and a chapter of the National Audubon Society (NAS) with its own dues. New NAS members in our chapter area receive one year’s free membership in PAS, along with the chapter newsletter and other benefits of membership. PAS dues of $15 are payable in September. Members receive the chapter newsletter, The Prairie Owl, either by mail or by email notification of its posting on the chapter’s website. Members are encouraged to read the newsletter online to save printing and postage expenses. PAS members who have not renewed and NAS members who have not paid dues after one year of membership are removed from the newsletter distribution list on December 31st. General membership meetings are held at the 1912 Building, 3rd and Adams St, Moscow ID, at 7:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, September through May, except in December. The board of directors meets at the 1912 Center at 7:00 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, September through May. The Prairie Owl is published every other month, August through April. Material for the “Owl” should be sent to the editor, Marie Dymkoski marie-dymkoski@msn.com by the 20th of the month. Any questions about membership should be directed to Diane Weber 509-334-3817 or email catbirdz@roadrunner.com. Visit the Palouse Audubon Society website at http://www.palouseaudubon.org/ or find us on Facebook.

Palouse Audubon Society PO Box 3606 Moscow ID 83843-1914

THE PRAIRIE OWL